


The Perils of Summer

by Chikita



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Minor Angst, Natsu loves popsicles, Near Death Experiences, Summer, Swimming, petty bickering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28248210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chikita/pseuds/Chikita
Summary: On a hot summer day, the Hinata siblings and Kageyama decide to go for a swim in the nearby lake. It almost ends in a disaster. Almost.
Relationships: Hinata Natsu & Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio
Kudos: 9





	The Perils of Summer

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Die Tücken des Sommers](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/729918) by Yoshi11 (my account). 



> I know it makes no sense to post a summer-themed during december but I’m doing it.

“I don’t think this is working. It’s way too hot.”

“Oh, really? I wouldn’t have noticed.”

“That sarcasm of yours is wasted, Kageyama. It was _your_ idea.”

In retrospect, Hinata should’ve realized that it wouldn’t be fun to play volleyball at forty degrees in the shade, with the humidity stifling the air and swarms of bloodthirsty mosquitoes only waiting to devour them alive. Any kind of sport would’ve been akin to torture. Like a flaming steamroller, the heatwave had taken over Miyagi, and although it was bearable in the gym thanks to the ancient but functional AC, the Hinatas’ backyard was a different story.

That’s how the two friends had ended up sitting or rather lying on the porch of Hinata’s home, the volleyball they had been playing with fifteen minutes ago resting at their feet. The sun continued to strike down mercilessly, preventing Hinata and Kageyama from doing what they were supposed to be doing: Play volleyball. Alas, lying down made that a little difficult.

With a grumble, Hinata turned his head far enough to look at Kageyama. Like him, he was lying on his back, fiddling with the cap on his water bottle with a sour look on his face. His damp hair was disheveled and sticking out in all directions, making him look kind of dorky.

“It’s empty. Get up and find a new bottle,” he suggested before the same bottle was flung at his forehead. What a jerk! He should’ve been drinking the water instead of pouring it over his face. Yet again, Hinata noticed the numerous red spots on Kageyama’s upper arms. Did the poor fellow suffer from a sun allergy or were those _all_ mosquito bites? Maybe he should-

“Aaaargh! Keep your sweaty fingers off me, dumbass!”, Kageyama hollered, shifting from a lying to a sitting position before attacking the spots Hinata had poked at with his nails.

“Stop scratching it, you’re making it worse!”, was Hinata’s response.

“Shut up, I’ll scratch all I want! You’re not my mom,” was Kageyama’s.

Where a few seconds earlier, two teenagers in the prime of their lives had been sprawled out on the planks like dead animals, the same teenagers were now engaged in a wrestling match in which there could only be losers. It was too hot, even for fighting. Only the mosquitoes were active.

“What are you doing? Are you dumb?” Their lazy, half-hearted brawl was interrupted by a high-pitched voice. Natsu had left the coolness of the house and joined them, eyeing them with pity. Hinata had often noted that the strawberry-colored shirt with the lion print that his sister loved so much, looked more like a pajama top. However, it seemed much more breezy than his and Kageyam’s training shirts, which were soaked through to the last scrap of fabric.

“We wanted to practice our new quick attack.” Hinata pointed to the lopsided volleyball net, which seemed far off in the distance, “Ukai-san said we have to work hard for the upcoming inter-high. But it’s so _hot,_ and I keep missing the ball because the sun is blinding, and then Kageyama yells at me, and he won’t stop scratching at his _stupid mosquito bites!"_ Instead of making a snarky comment, Kageyama rolled his eyes and kept on scratching without a care in the world.

“Why don’t you go swimming? You could still play ball and there won’t be any mosquitoes in the water,” Natsu said, smiling. Moments later, her eyes started to sparkle with yet another grand idea, “Ohhh! Should I ask mom to set up the pool? The pink one with the unicorn?”

“No, no no, we don’t need that! We _definitely_ don’t need that,” Hinata tried to convince Natsu that it wasn’t a good idea to force your high-school-aged guest to squeeze into a pool barely six feet in diameter, one end of which was adorned with a hideous-looking unicorn head. Oddly enough, Kageyama didn’t seem nearly as put off by the idea as Hinata expected from mister-”I hate everything nice except for volleyball.” Maybe he _liked_ unicorns? Who knew?

“I wouldn’t mind cooling off a little,” he said, shrugging and fiddling with his shirt collar to draw in some air. With the heat, it wouldn’t hurt to take that shirt off and everything else too. At least when going for a swim, they had a good reason to do so. But did it have to be a kiddy pool?

All of a sudden, he got a better idea. Back when he and Natsu had been younger, their mother had often taken them to a small lake about two miles from their home. There, he had taught his little sister how to swim, caught fish with his bare hands, and joined Natsu in exploring the nearby woods. It had always been a little adventure, and the more Hinata thought about it, the more he felt like sharing those memories with his friend. And hey, they could always play volleyball in the water if they want to. Now he just had to let Kageyama in on his plan.

\---

“Hey! I wanna go too!”, Natsu cried for the twentieth time, bouncing around the room like an elastic spring while Hinata and Kageyama were busy gathering the essentials they needed for their big trip. They had to pack sunscreen, snacks, a blanket to sit on, two swim shorts, their volleyball, more snacks, enough water bottles, and maybe a good mosquito spray. And snacks, of course. Hopefully, Hinata’s mother wouldn’t miss her cooler bag anytime soon.

“No, Natsu, you can’t always come with us,” Hinata replied for the twentieth time as well, sighing, “What if you drown?” In itself, he didn’t mind Natsu joining their activities, but if his mother wasn’t there, all the weight of responsibility would be on him as the older brother.

“I don’t plan on drowning!” Natsu puffed up her cheeks as if Hinata had accused her of suicidal thoughts, “I can swim better than grandpa, and better than aunt Aki’s chubby dachshund!”

“I think we’d better stay here,” Kageyama spoke up in an unusually quiet voice, surprising Hinata. Fifteen minutes ago he had been enthusiastic about the pool idea, as enthusiastic as Kageyama could be about an idea that didn’t involve volleyball. Had he changed his mind already?

“Aw...come on, this is gonna be fun! Please!” Natsu turned to Kageyama and jumped onto his back, arms around his neck. “More fun than lazing around and throwing stuff at Shouyou.” The begging approach worked as well as it always did. Fair enough, it _had_ been Natsu’s idea to go swimming, even if they had decided against the kiddy pool. It seemed mean to exclude her.

His mother wasn’t too keen on the idea, but this time, even she hadn’t been able to withstand the puppy-dog eyes. When Natsu had set her mind on something, it took a lot to make her reconsider. Now she was skipping through Hinata’s room fully dressed, touching everything with her chocolate-covered fingers and pestering him and Kageyama until they finally gave in.

\---

The lake was only a short bus ride away from Hinata’s house. Despite that, Kageyama managed to keep up his scowl so that they had four seats to themselves on the bus. At least that allowed them to use the empty seats to store all of their belongings. A stranger might’ve thought they were going on a week-long summer vacation, but hey, they _needed_ all of that.

Thanks to the heat, there weren’t many people on the road, and the lake was a bit of an insider tip, as Hinata proudly told Kageyama. The corners of the latter’s mouth dropped even further at this statement before he pulled the visor of his tacky “Hollywood” base cap over his face and refrained from saying another word. Well, maybe he had the summer blues. Natsu, on the other hand, paid no attention to Kageyama’s poor mood. By now, she knew him well enough to be used to his strange facial expressions. So she strolled alongside Hinata singing joyfully and off-key, and beaming as if she had won a year’s worth of candy on the wheel of fortune.

Their path led the trio through a wooded area where the grass grew so high that Hinata made a mental note to pack some tick spray next time as well. The sun had hidden behind a few clouds and crickets were chirping in the bushes. It was still sweltering hot, but for swimming, the weather seemed perfect. Even if Hinata would’ve preferred to be alone with Kageyama.

\---

“I’m the first one in the water!”, Natsu announced when the jolly tourist group had finally arrived at their destination. Before any of the other two could respond, she had taken off like a flash of light. Now there was plenty of time for her to do something life-threatening.

“She got that from you,” Kageyama said dryly before turning to face Hinata. The challenging glint in his deep blue eyes could only mean one thing.

_War._

Instead of fighting or throwing things at each other, the two of them started running. Despite the heat and heavy bags, they rushed down the bank, screaming and tripping over their own feet, only stopping once they were standing in ankle-deep water. As if that wasn’t unpleasant enough, Hinata ended up losing his balance. He could’ve sworn that instead of helping him up, Kageyama had given him an extra push. When it came to races, he was still a sore loser.

Now it was Hinata’s turn to grimace after he had emerged from his undignified position. Whilst knocking the water out of his ears and wringing out his soaked shirt on the shore, he started thinking about ways to get back at the smirking Kageyama. He already had a few ideas.

But first, he had to unpack his stuff from the thankfully waterproof bag and put his wet clothes in the sun to dry. Hopefully, Kageyama would fit the swim shorts he had given him from his closet. They were too wide around Hinata’s hips since he had never grown into them, but Kageyama should be fine with them. Skinny-dipping would also be an option. but they wouldn’t be able to explain that to Natsu or their mom when she told her later.

Perhaps Hinata had been a little too optimistic in his assessment. The two had finally taken off their sweaty training clothes and although Kageyama’s shorts fit him in terms of girth, they were still far too short. Almost a bit like the shorts of the girls’ volleyball team.

“What are you looking at?” Kageyama asked, oblivious as always, but with a crinkle in his brow. Hinata averted his eyes with a huff when Kageyama caught him staring and pulled his soaked shirt over his head.

“Are you stuck again? You can’t do anything on your own, huh?” Kageyama’s harsh voice rang in his ears, and the next moment his shirt was yanked off his head with excessive force. After Hinata had responded with an offended shriek, Kageyama frowned but maintained eye contact before moving his right hand toward his groin to scratch himself there _again,_ and that was the moment Hinata began to genuinely wonder if he was doing it on purpose.

Without further ado, Hinata scooted to one of his many bags and rummaged around in it until he held the prized anti-mosquito spray bottle in his hands, then turned around to do the only logical thing. A bit of large scale spraying on Hinata’s part and profanities from Kageyama later, and the issue of mosquito bites had hopefully settled for the rest of the day. _Hopefully._

Luckily, Natsu didn’t witness the whole incident and continued to merrily splash about in the water like a sea otter, as if she had never done anything else in her life. Now, it was time to cool down. Hinata picked up the volleyball, shot an encouraging glance at Kageyama, and headed to the lake.

“Hey, dumbass! Where the hell are you taking our ball?” Kageyama yelled after Hinata, who was already up to his knees in water.

“I thought we wanted to play volleyball? Didn’t you listen?” Maybe at this point, it would be called water polo and not volleyball, but those were unimportant details. It was still the same ball.

“In the water?”, Kageyama asked, as if there was any other option, “You want to play _there?”_

“Why do you think we’re here? It’s way too hot. Come on! You aren’t water-shy, are you?”

“Of course not!”

For some reason, Kageyama was hesitating. Perhaps, he was afraid of being nibbled by fish. After Hinata had been waiting forever whilst checking his imaginary watch several times, Kageyama finally entered the water, making a face as if he’d stepped into a pile of dog poop.

“You don’t have to be scared, there are no sharks in here! And no crocodiles either!”, Natsu called out to the big scaredy-cat. The whole situation seemed bizarre, but at least they could finally play. More than tossing the ball back and forth wasn’t possible anyway, since they didn’t have a net, but _hey,_ they were in the water and it was better being burned alive. When it wasn’t so hot anymore, they could play volleyball normally, but until then, the lake would have to do.

\---

When, after what felt like an eternity, Kageyama was finally submerged in waist-deep water, he and Hinata went ahead and played for about ten minutes. It worked out fine, but somehow, Kageyama was still on edge, constantly glancing towards the shore as if he was worried about someone stealing their clothes and running off. His behavior started to get on Hinata’s nerves. Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to drag Kageyama along on this trip when he so obviously didn’t enjoy it.

“Hey, pay attention!” Kageyama’s yelling jolted him out of his musings, and the volleyball he was supposed to pass back ended up flying over his head with a “whoosh”. Out of reflex, Hinata flung up his arms, but alas, at least half a second too late. A dull splat echoed through the air, the ball merrily drifting towards the other side of the lake. _Oops._ For a while, the two stared at each other before Kageyama was the first to point a finger and raise his voice.

“You get the ball,” was the only thing Kageyama said, but instead of his usual commanding tone, he sounded...shaky, nervous, borderline _anxious._ Hardly terms one would associate with Kageyama.

“No, it was your toss!”, Hinata refused, crossing his arms. Kageyama growled in response.

“If you lame-ass klutz had kept your eyes open, this wouldn’t have happened. It’s your fault, so you get the ball.” In a situation like this, it would be more mature to not get into petty arguments. “The wiser man yields,” his mother used to say. Yet, to be called a lame-ass klutz after all the months he and Kageyama had been playing on the same team wounded his pride.

He would show that jerk which of them was a lame-ass klutz. Now or never.

“Fine, I’ll get the ball then. I’m much faster than you anyway.” Hinata wrinkled his nose in defiance and hurled himself into the water with a half-hearted dive to swim towards the ball. He wouldn’t be able to stand up where it was now. He remembered it from his earlier visits.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Come back here, dumbass!” Hinata grinned to himself as his rival took the bait. He hadn’t changed a bit. Though if Kageyama was as good at swimming as he was at volleyball, and it wouldn’t surprise Hinata if he _was,_ he had to work his butt off to beat him. Whether it was a regular race or one in the water couldn’t make a huge difference.

But apparently, it _did_ make a difference, because even though Kageyama was still splashing and cursing behind him, he couldn’t keep up. The mental image motivated Hinata to swim faster, and with each stroke, he got closer to his object of desire. A satisfying thrill rippled through him when he finally held the ball in his arms, using it to support himself in the water. He looked forward to rubbing Kageyama’s lameness in his face for the rest of the day and tell him-

_“Shouyou!”_

A bloodcurdling scream reached his ears, causing all the joy about his victory to evaporate like a puff of air. Instead, pure adrenaline shot through his body, raising his pulse and cutting off his breath.

Natsu was in trouble. Panic-stricken, he turned to see his sister paddling in his direction. She didn’t look hurt at all and didn’t appear to be drowning, but why- _wait._ Where the hell was Kageyama?

“Tobio-chan has sunken and won’t come up!” Natsu wailed, and with that, confusion mixed in with Hinata’s concerns. Kageyama? _Sunken?_ He didn’t have time to think about the utter absurdity of the situation, because whatever had happened, Kageyama needed his help.

Hinata dropped the volleyball, took a deep breath, and dove underwater before the looming fear could paralyze him. Even though his field of vision was blurred, he forced himself to keep his eyes open and look for his missing friend. Seconds ago, he had been paddling after him, so he had to be close by. This would reveal whether or not the swimming badges Hinata had earned in middle school were worth anything. Thankfully, he immediately found what he was looking for, grabbed the first body part he could get his hands on, and dragged his friend to the surface.

“Kageyama, hey! I got you, hold still! We’ll be back in shallow water soon. What the heck did you do?”, Hinata chided the coughing and panic-stricken Kageyama. While holding him in a towing grip, he struggled to remember his old swimming instructor’s instructions whilst trying to avoid being pushed underwater by the taller and, unfortunately, much stronger Kageyama.

During the exercises with his classmates, everything had seemed so much easier. Hinata had often heard that in such situations, it was even allowed to knock the victim out, so they no longer fought back. But as much as he would love to do that, he didn’t want to have to deal with head injuries. First aid course or not, he was no paramedic. And then _Natsu_ was there, too.

Good thing the lake wasn’t as deep and Kageyama hadn’t gotten far before drowning. Thus, the rescue mission didn’t take too long, and only a few minutes later, both of them were back ashore, gasping for breath. The ball, which had caused the whole mess, floated in the lake, abandoned and uncared for. There weren’t many situations where Hinata didn’t care about volleyball, but now he found himself in such a situation. Surely, Kageyama felt the same way.

\---

“Nii-chan! Tobio-kun!”, Natsu cried out in shock, rushing through the shallow waters to pull first Shouyou, then Kageyama into a tearful hug. At barely eight years old, she had almost witnessed her first live death. After Hinata had calmed his sister down and kept her quiet with a popsicle from the cooler bag, he turned to Kageyama. He was cowering next to him, arms wrapped around his knees, staring at his feet. Was he angry? Embarrassed? Relieved?

His facial expressions were difficult to read since he almost always wore the same scowl.

“Fuck!”, he eventually commented on the situation in a brittle voice, almost disappearing under the towel Hinata had draped over his head and shoulders, “I should’ve told you that I can’t swim.”

“No shit. You should’ve done that, yeah,” Hinata groaned, rolling his eyes and running a hand through his dripping hair before the words struck his brain, “Wait...you can’t _swim?_ ”

“Poor guy!”, Natsu piped up and offered Kageyama a popsicle from her sticky hands. Now, it all made sense. That’s why Kageyama hadn’t wanted to come along, had hesitated to step into the water, and refused to get the ball. And then Hinata had spurred him on to a _race_ of all things, without warning him about the drop-off in the middle of the lake. He could’ve killed him.

With a sigh, Hinata grabbed a meat bun out of his bag and took a bite. Thank goodness Natsu had informed him in time before anything worse could’ve happened. What if he’d had to do- _No!_ He shook his head. This wasn’t the time to think about mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

“But, there’s one thing I don’t get,” Hinata said through a full mouth, ignoring Kageyama’s glaring, “How can a high school student not know how to swim? What do you do when we have swimming in gym class? Do you drown like a rock as well, or do you wear floaties?”

“No, I’m skipping class,” Kageyama cut him off, this time with more confidence. Natsu gasped before covering her mouth which led her to drop her half-eaten popsicle in Hinata’s lap. _Ew._ Well, he kinda deserved that. Then again, Kageyama had pushed him into the muddy water during their first race, and Kageyama had almost drowned for it. If anything, they were even.

“B-But, you’re not allowed to skip class! That’s illegal!”, Natsu scolded him, making Hinata burst into laughter until the hurt look on Kageyama’s face stopped him. Sure, his passion was volleyball, as was Hinata’s, but to have his shortcomings in another sport pointed out to him surely wasn’t pleasant. _Great,_ now he felt guilty, and that after he had saved Kageyama’s life.

“Look, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, really. There are plenty of adults who can’t swim. Also, drowning without making a sound is a skill, too,” Hinata tried to lighten up the mood.

“That’s not a skill, dumbass, that’s pathetic.” Kageyama snarled, refusing to be swayed from his state of dejection. It was weird. How could someone as strong and athletic as Kageyama be brought down by water of all things? After all, swimming was _easy._ Though, Hinata couldn’t remember when he had learned to swim himself. Maybe his mom or another relative had tossed him into the pool after he had outgrown his diapers.

“Did you just never learn, or is there a more serious reason?”, he asked out of curiosity, surprised that Kageyama didn’t dismiss him for once and gave him a meaningful answer.

“They didn’t teach swimming lessons in my elementary school. My parents never thought about enrolling me in any classes either.” He grimaced and crossed his arms as if he still resented them for their negligence. “And by the time I went to middle school, it was too late.”

“Why too late?” Kageyama threw him a scathing look. There was a reddish glow on his face, which could’ve been from embarrassment, or burned skin since they had forgotten to put on sunscreen.

“Are you kidding? My teammates would’ve never taken me seriously again. They couldn’t stand me as it was.” The bitterness underlining his statement made Hinata grin, but also feel a little sorry.

“Well, maybe they would’ve given you a different nickname. The “king of drowning” or something.” He couldn’t help himself from cracking a joke, one that would probably result in _his_ death.

“Shouyou, don’t tease him!”, Natsu complained, leaping up from her spot on the blanket and tossing the stick of her third chocolate popsicle at Hinata’s head before turning to Kageyama, “I can stand you, and I don’t care if you can swim. Even if I don’t think it’s nice that you’re skipping school.” Hinata’s mother would scold him later. Not because of his friend almost drowning, but because it was probably irresponsible to let a child eat so many popsicles.

“It’s still embarrassing.” Kageyama was so distracted by Natsu’s babbling that he forgot to wring Hinata’s neck.

“Well, summer’s still long. I can teach you. It’s not that hard. Then you won't have to skip classes anymore,” Hinata said with an encouraging smile and crept closer to his friend. That, at least, was a well-intentioned offer. Whether Kageyama would accept it or whether he had had enough of water after today’s experience was another matter. Not that he would blame him.

“Seriously? You’re not messing with me again, are you?” Kageyama didn’t seem too averse to the idea, but suspicion was written all over his face.

“Nah, friends help each other. I taught Natsu how to swim back then, so now I’ll do the same for you.”

“Okay,” Kageyama relented, at last, removing the towel from his head to reconnect with the world, “But, if you’re coming at me with floaties again we’ll stop. I’ve been ridiculed enough already.”

“You’re such a naysayer,” Hinata grumbled, dislodging the popsicle stick from his hair to toss it into the grass a few feet away, “I bet, I’ll have taught you how to swim by the end of the summer, without any floaties.” Before they got started, though, he would first get Kageyama a proper pair of swim shorts. He was starting to feel the need to stare again, and it was getting awkward.

“But, there’s one thing you have to promise,” Kageyama said, who had once again failed to notice Hinata’s blatant staring. With vigor in his voice, he addressed his partner. Blue eyes bored into brown ones. “Not a word to the others. Not to anyone on our team, not to anyone from the other schools. Got that? To this day, Oikawa _still_ thinks I’m allergic to chlorine.”

That was unexpected. Oikawa? Allergic? The words whirred through Hinata’s head, creating images of a young, awkward Kageyama trying to duck out of swimming lessons with a lame excuse to avoid making a bad impression in front of the great king. And then said great king _bought_ his nonsense. The excuse wasn’t even the funniest part. What would Oikawa do if he found out the truth? Would he ambush his hated rival before a tournament to toss him into a river?

That idea ended up being the straw that broke the camel’s back. Neither the last remnants of his common sense nor Kageyama’s swirling aura could keep Hinata from bursting into a violent fit of laughter.

“Hey, I told you not to mess with me!”, Kageyama yelled, and pounced on a still laughing Hinata, grabbing his head, which earned him a startled shriek. Natsu didn’t even blink at the sight.

“Sorry, I-I just- You’ve got it all wrong! I didn’t realize you were such a good liar. You’re really- _ow!”_ All attempts to de-escalate the situation went nowhere. Now he had screwed up for good.

“You fool, if you kill me, you won’t have anyone left to teach you how to swim, and then you’ll just drown! Your chlorine-allergy won’t help you anymore.”

“Will you stop teasing me about it! Why do I even tell you anything?”

“I saved your life, be a bit more grateful!”

“You only did so you could take the piss out of me!”

“Geez, you guys are childish,” Natsu summed up the situation in the most fitting manner. Surely, it was going to be a long summer. But with friends like these, at least it wouldn’t be a boring one.


End file.
